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(David Walker – Courtesy Firestone Walker Brewing)
In 1996, two brothers-in-law began what would become a 25-year journey in search of the perfect beer…And the rest is, well, history.
Their first beer was Double Barrel Ale (DBA), a tribute to traditional cask-fermented English ales. After initial attempts to brew the beer in used wine barrels led to unintentional sour beer, the duo moved to new American oak barrels which has become the standard today.
“We made one beer, DBA, that went through our version of a Burton Union with linked oak barrels,” said co-founder David Walker who started the brewery alongside Adam Firestone 25 years ago…
“Our brewhouse was purchased from a junkyard in Los Angeles and originally designed to brew non-alcoholic beer. It was impossible to calibrate or measure, so brewing beer with it was a dark art.”
“We learned quickly about the need for insane cleanliness. In those days, our volumes were so slow that we actually named the barrels; the first two were Beavis and Butthead, in honor of Mr. Firestone and Mr. Walker.”
“So much of the brewing and packaging process was manual,” according to Miguel Ibarra, Firestone Walker’s first employee…
“I remember the first day we packaged DBA, and I stayed late to help with the kegging, which included hoisting each full 13.2-gallon keg off the line and onto a pallet. We used to jump in the mash tun to clean it between brews, shoveling out the wet grain and hosing everything down, we only had 15 minutes to do it, and it was hot as hell in there.”
And now, a quarter of a century later, Double Barrel Ale, the British-style pale ale that Adam Firestone and David Walker have brewed continuously since day one, is being re-imaged with a new “heritage” look that draws from the original design,.
The new-look Double Barrel Ale started rolling out to Firestone Walker’s California markets this month and like any great beer, especially one that’s been on retail shelves for 25 years, it deserves a revisit. DBA is a beer that truly stands the test of time.
And here’s an interesting video that Firestone Walker produced which gets into that beer a little deeper…
